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Castle Menzies, how I wish to visit you…

I’m going to make it clear before I even get started. I’m not in the habit of assuming things about genealogy. I promise. Okay, I don’t officially assume things. Just because I haven’t proven it yet, doesn’t mean that I won’t eventually right? Well in any case, I don’t make a habit of it. Sometimes though, in the case of things that involve my other passions, I can’t help but keep the door open. Those passions I speak of are Ireland, Scotland, Brooklyn, and architecture. You don’t know this because you don’t know me, but I actually took Computer Aided Drafting and Design in high school. I always loved looking through house plan books and passing through small towns where the buildings are old and a mixed variety from different eras.

I completely understand if you immediately shrug this off as one of “those” things young genealogists do. They take everything for truth and don’t bother documenting and verifying. Trust me, I will verify this when I begin taking genealogy trips. Being the first generation of Southern Maryland Moores, it’s difficult that all the history surrounding me does nothing for my family research. Though trust me there are some Maryland “coincidences” that make me feel what a small world it is.

This is what i spent hours doing last night. It was a quiet, cool night here. So I was just relaxing in my fluffy pajamas tooling through Scotland on Google Earth‘s Street View. If you aren’t using this for genealogy purposes, please do it now!

It was as I was pining for a trip to Scotland that a thought struck me. It’s been years since I looked up Castle Menzies on Google Earth. The last time I looked, it was a blurry overhead view that didn’t rate a second glance really. Americans are mighty spoiled with the high resolution abundance.

When I got the area that Castle Menzies is supposed to be, I found the same blurry low resolution picture from before. The wonderful surprise was that Street View was available for the road that the castle is on.

Thanks to Street View I feel like I was able to quench my thirst to visit for just a little longer.

It’s on the top 5 lists of places I want to go. I will connect my Menzies from Scotland to these Menzies. It just hasn’t happened yet. Trust me, when it’s supposed to happen, it will.

Credit: All credit for these images goes to Google Earth. I did not take any of these pictures. I only visited Scotland from the comfort of my home, in my fluffy pajamas, while eating pizza. Please do not sue me, I have nothing except for my fluffy pajamas and cold pizza.